Major dismantles out of sorts Ilinden
A Travis Major hat-trick has helped Blacktown City stretch their lead at the top of the ladder with a 4-2 win against reigning premiers Rockdale Ilinden at Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre on Sunday.
Blacktown City’s star striker couldn’t be stopped after opening his account from the penalty spot before netting twice more after the interval.
It was City’s day with the visitors opening the scoring after only three minutes before Major found his scoring touch ten minutes from the interval.
Rockdale’s Zac Sfiligoi was able to keep Rockdale in the contest early when he scored a 10th minute equaliser, however by the time Gauthier scored the home side’s second in the 86th minute the match was already lost.
The result cement’s Blacktown’s position on top of the competition ladder for another week, while Rockdale fall further behind in their premiership defence.
The match had an explosive start when Carlos De Oliveria opened the scoring for Blacktown City after Caleb Jackson Brown pinched the ball off a unexpecting Tomoki Wada only three minutes in.
Sfiligoi returned fire in the 9th minute with a long range effort that Tristan Prendergast failed to deal with after slipping through his hands and dropping over the line to level the scores.
The frenetic pace couldn’t continue and a tense midfield chess match ensued, each probing for an opening but ultimately broken up by the defensive units.
City found were gifted a chance to take the lead when Mario Shabow was felled in the Ilinden box by Banri Kanaizumi. Major stepped up to wrong foot David Bradasevic and coolly slot home from the spot to give the visitors a 2-1 advantage at the interval.
Rockdale rang the changes with Mick Neill replacing Sam Gullisano and started brightly when Alec Urosevski broke down the left into the area but unable to find Bai Antoniou with his centre.
However, it was a long ball out from Prendergast that found Major on the left and a powerful run into the box and lob over Bradasevic to extended City’s lead to 3-1 in the 51st minute.
The reaction was a heightened response from the home side, if that were possible, and further added to the unfolding drama being played out.
Bradasevic pulled off a point blank save, one from a catalogue of classy stops, from a Campbell header while Urosevski was unlucky at the other end after spinning in the box before send his shot wide.
Shabow and De Oliviera linked up well on the right resulting in a Shabow shot flashing across the face, before Major found Matthew Lewis in space but he snatched at the shot and sent it wide of the upright.
Blacktown was increasingly finding space in behind with Rockdale forced into pushing on to get back into the match.
Major completed his hat-trick six minutes from time with a thunderous shot into the roof of the net to put the result beyond doubt.
Not even a late consolation goal to substitute Amaury Gauthier could take the gloss off a very pleasing performance from Blacktown.
Rockdale coach Steve Zoric said his side was their own worst enemy.
“Individual errors have cost us today, which is disappointing,” he said.
“We had to chase the game which then allowed them room to counter after they slipped back into a 5-4-1 formation and sitting deep which they are very good at when they go ahead.
“Once they get their noses in front they are a very dangerous side to break down because they will counter-attack you all day and they are pretty smart at it.
“It’s very hard to draw them out and we had to try and force the pace and made it very difficult for ourselves.
“We now have to look to our game on Wednesday night against Mt Druitt Town Rangers in the FFA Cup and look to put things right.”
A very pleased Blacktown City coach Mark Crittenden was understanably jubilant after the game.
“This is always a tough place to come and you need to set up well and we did that today,” he said.
“We gave them a bit of a sniff with a very rare mistake from Tristan (Prendergast) but we felt very confident coming here today. We brought young Caleb (Jackson Brown) into the side for his debut and I felt he was outstanding today.
“The young boys are getting their chance in the side, something we’ve never been afraid of at Blacktown as we believe if you’re good enough you’re old enough, and they are doing the business for us.
“Very happy today as it’s not often you can come here and walk away after scoring four times.”
Match Stats
Rockdale Ilinden 2 (Sfiligoi 9’, Gauthier 86’)
Blacktown City 4 (De Oliviera 3’, Major 32’, 51’, 84’)
Ilinden Sports Centre, Rockdale
Sunday, 13th June 2021
Referee: Stephen Lucas
Assistant. Referees: Joon Park & Amir Hosnani
Fourth Official: Ivica Covic
Rockdale Ilinden: 1.David BRADASEVIC, 5.Banri KANAIZUMI, 6.Daniel ARAUJO, 7.Alec UROSEVSKI, 8.Tomaki WADA (23.Jordan FIGON 68’), 9.Bai ANTONIOU, 11.Samuel GULISANO (3.Michael NEILL 46), 13.Zac SFILIGOI (10.Amaury GAUTHIER 57’), 14.Brayden SORGE, 16.Mohamed AHMED, 19.Patrick SAVOR,
Substitutes not used: 22.Enrol Ordonez SUAREZ, 43.Mohamed HANDACHE, 45.James NIKOLOVSKI
Yellow Cards: Araujo 42, Savor 53, Ahmed 75’
Red Cards: Nil
Blacktown City: 1.Tristan PRENDERGAST, 3.Daniel COLLINS, 4.Lachlan CAMPBELL, 5.Grant LYNCH, 6.Matthew LEWIS, 7.Travis MAJOR (9.Sean ROONEY 88’), 10.Mario SHABOW (18.Suleyman BANGURA 70’), 14.Caleb JACKSON BROWN, 22.Carlos DE OLIVEIRA (11.Rhett DESILVA 78’), 24.Jackson BANDIERA, 29.Nicholas O’BRIEN
Substitutes not used: 20.Dylan NISKI, 16.Ben BERRY, 26.Tyler BIRNIE
Yellow Cards: Campbell 43, Bangura 90+2
Red Cards: Nil
By National Premier Leagues NSW Reporter Micky Brock
